I've had my W for a little while now, and I've loved it from the moment I test rode it. I bought it after I sold my beast of a Husqvarna TE610. With my family growing, and other hobbies (such as mountain biking), I had less and less time for weekend off-road rides, but still needed a bike to get around. Working from home with clients generally 30mins of highway riding away, the TE sucked as a commuter. I flogged it, and suddenly this W650 popped up for sale. Now, this is rare. Mine is the only W650 I have ever seen on the road, and I've only once seen another one for sale in the country (South Africa). They were never imported by Kawasaki SA (which is also the official Triumph importer, which could explain why). The W800 has just landed on showroom floors though, but is hopelessly overpriced.

I went from this:

To this:

As you can see, my W came to me in a state of semi-customisation. The fenders had been cut, and a smaller tail light fitted, along with smaller turn signals. The tank had been painted and the owner had little fake logos made up that read "Triumphant". He'd also added a Nitroheads seat and removed the airbox, and swapped the bars for clubmans.

The best part of owning a W650 in South Africa, has to be the number of people that have stopped me to either compliment me on my Triumph, or ask me what the heck it is I'm riding. And then ask me if I "restored" it myself. I've even been pulled over by the fuzz.

Over time I've swapped the bars for some scrambler-ish ones (the original bars off my Husky), with Biltwell Kung-Fu grips and some bar end mirrors off Ebay. The turn signals I swapped out with a mate for an old Honda CB set, and the Triumphant logos were ripped off and replaced with some 2nd hand Kawa badges from my local 2nd hand parts shop. Lastly, I slapped on a headlight grill. Tyres are Pirelli MT60 (front) and MT90 (rear).

Some of the gravel roads were pretty darn bumpy. The W's suspension ain't great to begin with, but mine is particularly crap and I'm not a small guy. During the trip I cracked both exhaust welds (I had to have the headers welded to the cans at one point, and those welds both cracked), and my battery / electronics box broke and rode on the tyre for a bit. The result - I need to build a new battery box, replace the battery and powder coat the swingarm due to the damage from the battery acid. And then I need a rear mudguard with better coverage (since the under seat area will be more open). I had also ordered ally number boards (to replace the side covers) and a nicer tail light, so the bike is undergoing a major transformation at the moment.

I am taking it really slow, and have shifted my focus to this bike for now

So yeah, that's me. Glad to be here, I love my W650 a heck of a lot, it's the first bike I've owned that I have no desire to sell - ever.

Very cool! Did you lower the bike at all? How is the bike without a front fender, do you feel the need for a fork brace? Lastly, is the the stock rear fender but cut down, or is that a different one all together. Definitely dig it. I'm hoping to get in deeper with changing some stuff up on mine.

Well, its been a couple weeks since I picked up my W. I took it for a 100 miles ride during a nice warm day in Jan so that I could get the feel for it in stock form. Since then its gotten quite a bit of attention.

Went from this...

To this...Doesn't look like much, but not quite finished yet either. Sorry about the filthy wheels, its too cold to give it a bath here.

Maintenance:
Pulled the triples and rear swing arm to grease the bearings. Flushed the brake fluid. Also gave it new air filter elements and a valve shimming. Had two exhaust valves at 0.06mm...yikes! On the positive side, what a joy to shim without having to pull the cam! My other bikes all have shim UNDER bucket.

Still chasing a Corbin Gunfighter. That should give it a little more cafeish look and hopefully be a little more comfy. Might add a Dart Flyscreen and some sort of exhaust too, but will leave some of that till later.

Here is the '04 ZX6R/636 brake lever in case anyone wanted a cheap adjustable solution. I hate long reach levers!

Close up of the Ikon adjustable shocks. Went for these over the Hagons because of the adjustable damping and rebuild-able bodies. You can see the 4 position damping adjustment near the top bolts.

Tail...

I've seen a few folks mention that the emulators were plenty stiff at 2 turns. Since this isnt a track bike and I want the thing to feel somewhat plush, I added 2 1/16th low speed compression holes to the poppet. These are about 1/2 the area of the factory ones. Still WAY less flow area than the stock damper rods!. Now if it would just warm up so I could do a test ride!

Hmmm. Nice job on the mods. Quite tasteful, IMO. Living in the PNW, I prefer full fenders, but since it was already cracked, good solution.

Yeah, we'll have to see if I like it. If not, the seller gave me a new rear fender. Figured I had nothing to lose. Only issue I can see with the full rear fender is that it pretty much forces you to use the big tail light and bracket to cover up the holes. I've got an ugly Vstrom for riding in the muck too

Well, its been a couple weeks since I picked up my W. I took it for a 100 miles ride during a nice warm day in Jan so that I could get the feel for it in stock form. Since then its gotten quite a bit of attention.

Went from this...

To this...Doesn't look like much, but not quite finished yet either. Sorry about the filthy wheels, its too cold to give it a bath here.

Maintenance:
Pulled the triples and rear swing arm to grease the bearings. Flushed the brake fluid. Also gave it new air filter elements and a valve shimming. Had two exhaust valves at 0.06mm...yikes! On the positive side, what a joy to shim without having to pull the cam! My other bikes all have shim UNDER bucket.

Still chasing a Corbin Gunfighter. That should give it a little more cafeish look and hopefully be a little more comfy. Might add a Dart Flyscreen and some sort of exhaust too, but will leave some of that till later.

Here is the '04 ZX6R/636 brake lever in case anyone wanted a cheap adjustable solution. I hate long reach levers!

Close up of the Ikon adjustable shocks. Went for these over the Hagons because of the adjustable damping and rebuild-able bodies. You can see the 4 position damping adjustment near the top bolts.

Tail...

I've seen a few folks mention that the emulators were plenty stiff at 2 turns. Since this isnt a track bike and I want the thing to feel somewhat plush, I added 2 1/16th low speed compression holes to the poppet. These are about 1/2 the area of the factory ones. Still WAY less flow area than the stock damper rods!. Now if it would just warm up so I could do a test ride!

Do you have a shot of the bike from the front? I'd like to see how it lookes with those mirrors, I'm thinking of puting a set on my bike.